Police agencies in Bosnia are raiding several locations to arrest 20 suspects as part of a crackdown on a suspected organised crime group that smuggled illicit drugs and firearms from Western Balkan Countries to the EU.

The operation, ordered by the organised crime prosecutors, is being carried out by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), the Interior Ministry of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity and the Interior Ministry of Canton Sarajevo.

The investigation involved cooperation with police forces in the EU and Europol.

The organized criminal group is suspected of carrying out international smuggling of drugs and weapons for a long period of time, prosecutors said. Members of the group operated in several countries and narcotics were most often smuggled from Albania and Montenegro to BiH and then further to EU countries – Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Germany.